donderdag 21 juli 2016

Dutch surplus arms to Jordan

The Dutch government should reconsider its arms export policy
to Jordan seen the recent scandals and developments in the
region. It should also provide more detailed information on its surplus
sales in general, so a more elaborate opinion can be formed by MPs and
civil society.

Over the past years a constant flow of information has been published
by the international media on Western arms in the hands of IS and other
terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. The most remarkable recent example
was a story investigated by the New York Times and Al Jazeera
on a large volume of arms and ammunition sent by the CIA to Jordan for
Syrian fighters. The weapons were stolen by Jordanian intelligence
operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market.

At a subsequent NYT-blog
it was stated that: “Sceptics of American efforts to arm
anti-government rebels in Syria have long worried that weapons could be
diverted to opposing forces or terrorists. But they did not expect
diversion by members of Jordan’s vaunted intelligence service, which was
working with the United States to train the rebels. Revelations, by The
Times and Al Jazeera, of just such theft have shown how even a
supposedly stalwart ally can undermine American interests and aid its
enemies.” Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch, Executive Director,
Middle East and North Africa Division sighed in a tweet: “Seen this movie a 1000 times.”

The theft surfaced because the officers bragged about it and showed
iPhones, SUV's and other luxuries bought with the illegal earnings. Even
after it became known to the Jordan government it was not ended
directly, but only a few months ago when the US and Saudi Arabia started
to complain about the dangerous malversations.

Jordan is seen as an island of stability in the region and strongly
connected to the West. Even its Muslim Brothers are only a moderate
nuisance. But others argue
stability is not a guarantee. Corruption in the elites is one of the
more prominent political issues. Even more so because revenues of the
fraud are not drippling down. Ludo de Brabander argues in his last book 'Oorlog zonder grenzen'
that loyalty is also low because of the Jordanian government support
for US policies in the region. He cites polls to underline his position,
like the one of the PewResearchCenter in Washington D.C. It fits into the following worry “Jordan's deepening involvement in Syria—including
reports that it is permitting Israeli drone flights over its territory
and welcoming deployments of U.S. troops—could feed protests, too.” The hesitance to participate in the war with its neighbours was large for this reason .

The Dutch government voiced some concerns on Jordan in connection
with the sale of military equipment like trucks, air defence and fighter
aircraft. The government wrote in a series of letters (see table above)
that the Human Rights situation is better as in most countries of the
region, but situation of prisoners isn't good, rights of Palestine
refugees are violated as is the freedom of press, opinion and gathering.
The death penalty was introduced in December 2014 after a moratorium of
eight years and 113 people are now on death row. But these facts were
not decisive in granting the export license.

The Jordanian armed forces are not connected to those violations. And
despite the regional problems and the influx of large quantities of
refugees Jordan is relatively stable and part of the coalition against
ISIS. The probability the trucks will be used against the population are
minimal (thus not zero, MB). The F-16's and armoured vehicles can not
be used against the population, according to the government in The
Hague.

More specific information should be published to the Parliament in
the future, such as which types are exported, with what kind of primary
and secondary armaments aboard. YPR is a very vague description of a
wide ranging family of armoured vehicles. Are they equipped with machine
guns, small or middles seized cannons? This kind of information is
essential to have an balanced opinion on the sales.

Sales add fuel to the chain of conflicts in the Near and Middle East.
The report of the New York Times and Al Jazeera give a kind of peep
review of what may lay ahead of us. No time for lacony on the side of
the Dutch government when it wants to sell its obsolete weapons abroad.